Analysis of a Research Report

Analysis of a Research Report

Statistical Applications

Analysis of a Research Report

In the article, Evaluation of the ACT Intervention to Improve Nurses' Cardiac Triage Decisions, the problem is that only about 25% of the patients with acute chest pain receive an ECG within ten minutes of arrival to the Emergency Department (ED). "The purpose of this study was to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of the Aid to Cardiac Triage (ACT) intervention to improve ED nurses' cardiac triage decisions by determining the association between the ACT intervention and women receiving an initial physician-read ECG within 10 minutes of ED arrival as recommended by the ACC/AHA MI guidelines" (Arslanian-Engoren, Hagerty, & Eagle, 2010)

. The study primarily addresses the symptoms in women over the age of 18. The study used as its framework the four-phase model of ED patient care promulgated by Rhee, Donabedian, and Burney (1987). This model is consistent with the ACC/AHA guidelines. Many of the citations in the article were dated within the past six to seven years, which make the references current. This article cited 43 references. These authors noted that no study was found that focused exclusively on improving the cardiac triage decisions of ED nurses. Nurses are typically the first provider to see a patient and in this study specifically women with chest pain.

The study used an ED in western Michigan. This ED evaluated more than 850 women per year with signs and symptoms of MI/ACS. The charts of the women patients had received an ECG in the ED three months prior to the ACT training. The women were over the age of 18. The study then looked at ECGs of women three months post ACT training.

The measures included patients age, time of arrival in the ED, the time of the RN triage decision, the time the doctor read the ECG, presenting symptoms, medical history, and current medications. The variables considered for inclusion as predicts...